Praedicator

Verba

Friday, August 12, 2016 - Friday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

[Ezek 16:1-15, 60, 63 or 16:59-63 and Matt 19:3-12]

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to fivorce his wife for any cause whatever?" He said in reply, "Have you not read that from the begining the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate."

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2012 FRIDAY IN THE NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORINARY TIME

[Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 and Matthew 19:3-12]

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to fivorce his wife for any cause whatever?" He said in reply, "Have you not read that from the begining the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate."

The Pharisees take divorce for granted. Their question has to do with what the grounds could be - narrow or broad. The basis for their position was the law of Moses which permitted divorce. Jesus tells them flatly that Moses was mistaken or else figured that this was one battle he was not going to win ("the hardness of your hearts"). Jesus goes back to Genesis, the very beginning of the Law of Moses, and tells them that divorce has never been part of God's plan.

I think we are in a similar position now. Our culture takes divorce for granted. It is a matter of the reason for it that we pay attention to. The recent Synod on the Family and Pope Francis' synod document, "The Joy of Love," spoke to the pastoral response that must be given to those who have found themselves in divorce. Nevertheless, the Synod and Pope Francis both make it clear that divorce is not part of God's plan of salvation. Marriage understood as a sacramental and sacred bond is something created by God and not by human legislation, which has created legal relationships of different kinds.

The struggle to be faithful to this teaching has to continue. At the end of today's gospel scripture, Jesus responds to the dismay his teaching has caused in his disciples and the Pharisees that "Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted." We must continue the pastoral effort to prepare couples adequately for this sacred commitment and "de-commodify" marriage as something that can be bought or traded or discarded or be a victim of what what Pope Francis calls the "throwaway culture." Taking divorce for granted is a tragedy. AMEN